Officer Cowley was surprised and afraid of Henry Louis Gates Jr.? Wow.
After Henry Louis Gates' arrest by a Cambridge police officer we had an obligatory "national conversation" on race and a beer summit where all of sins and hurt feelings were washed away. In keeping with the synergy that occurs when the bureaucratic culture of the U.S. government and the conference culture of academia meet, a blue ribbon panel was assembled to review the arrest of Professor Gates.
I have looked through their very well-pedigreed report (a mix of theory and meditation on such concepts as "legitimacy" and "procedural justice"), so you will not have to. Its conclusion in lay terms: Professor Gates was uppity and that police have a broad range of discretionary power...which Officer Cowley chose to exercise in the harshest way possible.
Some choice excerpts from the report (make careful note of how asking questions of a police officer in your own home can be perceived as belligerence):
I for one do not know how an elderly academic recovering from pneumonia and who walks with a cane can be such a threat. But then again, maybe Professor Gates is a Zatoichi? Ultimately, and as I said months ago when this story first developed, the real fruits of full citizenship in America are the right to be angry, upset, and not on your best behavior...and to still get a pass from the powers that be. As demonstrated here, white privilege isn't all high theorizing and academic double talk. In practice, it is the freedom to be a jerk and to still not go to jail.
Sadly, Professor Gates seems to have forgotten that practical lesson of how race is (still) lived in Barack Obama's America.
8 comments:
When my sons were teenagers, I gave them stern advice regarding interactions with police. I instructed them to stand still, keep their hands in sight and calm, maintain appropriate eye contact, address the policeman as "officer," by name if possible, and comply immediately with all requests. Police, after all, have full establishment backing, real authority, an assortment of clubs and firearms, and options that are disagreeable. They both had occasion to thank me later, after late night encounters with police.
Having said that, if it had been me on that day, and even if I had acted in the same way as Professor Gates, the incident would have ended happily. Not because I am a lawyer, and a university lecturer, and about the same age as Professor Gates, but because I am White.
The advice is still good, though, and unfortunately it is much more important for Black teenagers, Black men in general. Blackness, even barely perceived Blackness, still makes every single thing more difficult in America, and elsewhere, as you know.
Real talk. And appreciated. Class and race are so operative in this. As I wrote before. Gates was pissed off, cussing, and damn upset that this "lowly" cop dared challenge him, a world famous harvard prof in his own home. Guess what? A white harvard prof would have done the same thing and not gone to jail. For me, these moments really signal to the permanence of white supremacy in this society.
Chauncey (and fred c)--good discussion. When I heard this "equally at fault" and "both men were frightened" business, I turned to my husband and said, "That cop was scared? Scared of what? Skip gates is 60+ years old, about 5'2", and walks with a limp. The only people frightened of him are his Ph.D. students." (By which I mean no disrespect--I'm just saying that he's not exactly the most physically imposing guy in the world.)
In my experience, this rhetoric that equalizes the perceived threat among unequal actors is deployed to justify the actual inequality of the relationship. For example, a young colleague who goes to a Dean to complain about how she's treated at work by her colleagues is informed that contrary to the reality of power relations, she's seen as "intimidating" by her colleagues who are treating her badly. IOW, the person with no actual power is informed that ze in fact has all of the power in the relationship, so anything that happens is therefore hir fault.
Thanks for reading that a$$hat of a report so we don't have to, Chauncey.
I was saying the same thing re: Gates: He has a milquetoast reputation for a reason. That was the major irony of the situation: that HLG of all people in Black Academia™ got racially profiled by the police, and had something so typical it was scraping the bottom of the barrel Black man vs Cops incident happen to him.
One thing I've been thinking about since the outset of the incident is how a Black man of any educational background, with any kind of visible disability is still seen as an imminent threat to police. His hip injury is a mainstay of his bio, and even the most anti-Black reactionary Gates vs Cop articles, but it's still not seen as central to how people perceive him. It's one of the first things one notices; one cannot help it or pretend they don't see it, unless one is nonsighted.
It's not just Gates and disability, and it's not just the police and Black men and disability. I've been waiting on someone to take this up but may have to do it myself.
(I just put up a big post about disability in our culture, so it's a focus from my end.)
The police are scum.
I'll stick to that, and leave nuances to the nuanced.
@Historiann--Your point on the Dean's business is spot on. Funny how those with power can invert it so that they are now victims of some sort. When you factor in race it gets even worse as even the most vulnerable and polite of us can be rebranded as dangerous.
@Ohcrap--That is sharp on the disability point. It is part of Gates' habitus and narrative and has served him well. I find it ironic as you pointed out that Gates is involved in this rediscovering your white european roots meme for black folk. To point, Gates trip to Scotland made me want to vomit. Funny, despite this he is too black and uppity.
@js--be nice. The police are our friends...
@chaunceydevega: Not sure of the particulars of his trip, but why would Dr. Gates' visiting Scotland make you want to vomit? Shouldn't black folks be entitled to know if they got some kin there as well, if they have some? Who knows, there may be some medical mysteries cleared up in the process that will no longer baffle and astound at that next doctor visit (among other things)...
Chauncey (and fred c)--good discussion. When I heard this "equally at fault" and "both men were frightened" business, I turned to my husband and said, "That cop was scared? Scared of what? Skip gates is 60+ years old, about 5'2", and walks with a limp. The only people frightened of him are his Ph.D. students." (By which I mean no disrespect--I'm just saying that he's not exactly the most physically imposing guy in the world.)
Clearly, the cop was afraid that Gates would tap his cane on the ground and it would be transformed into the the mystic hammer Mjolnir and Gates would turn into the Mighty Thor. I'm surprised he didn't just fill him full of lead in anticipation of this transformation.
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